US Secretary of State Rubio to offer Israel support despite Qatar strike

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will offer robust support to Israel on a trip timed before French-led moves for a Palestinian state, the State Department said Friday, despite US unease over Israel's air strike in Qatar.

President Donald Trump will meet over dinner with Qatar's prime minister on Friday, the White House said, after he gently chided Israel for the attack that targeted Hamas on Tuesday in Qatar, a key US military and diplomatic partner.

But Rubio, who met separately at the White House with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, will go ahead and leave Saturday for Israel. 

He will speak to Israeli leaders about "our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions, including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement.

France will lead a United Nations summit on 22 September in which a number of western countries plan to recognise a Palestinian state centred around the West Bank.